Are cloned animals safe to eat?

Independent UK scientists say that meat and milk from cloned cattle is no different from non-cloned produce.

The Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes has joined bodies like the US Food and Drug Administration in concluding that food from cloned animals is not substantially different from food from conventionally-farmed animals, and so is unlikely to cause a health risk.

Cloning is generally used as part of the selective breeding process: a cow that produces a good milk yield, for example, can be cloned, and then the clone can be used as breeding stock. Because cloning is an expensive process, most “food from cloned animals” is actually from the offspring of clones.

It is currently illegal to sell food from cloned animals or their offspring in the UK without a special license from the Food Standards Agency.